Vampire Equipment

One of the things I like about vampires as a class more than other classes is that they are relatively easy to equip for a simple set up that is usable. By this I mean maximise the important stats of strength, dexterity and intelligence and have hit points and damage roll at a decent level. On the other hand you can spend a lot of time and money dressing a vampire up to a high level of hit points and damage roll while still maximising stats. I currently have three level 50 vampires of which one is very well equipped and two have a basic set up.

My best vampire is dressed is Vilexur the half-troll. He has 131 damage roll and stats below:
You report: 1752/1752 hp 59/60 blood 666/666 mv 176592194 xp.
Your base stats:    17 str 17 int 10 wis 18 dex 16 con 9  cha 13 lck.
Your current stats: 20 str 22 int 8  wis 24 dex 16 con 3  cha 18 lck.
Equipment used is as follows:

You are using:
<used as light>      (Red Aura) Shifting black flames
<worn on finger>     (Red Aura) (Humming) Set's ring of Power
<worn on finger>     (Red Aura) (Humming) Set's ring of Power
<worn around neck>   (Red Aura) Collar of Abyssal Servitude
<worn around neck>   (Red Aura) Collar of Abyssal Servitude
<worn on body>       (Red Aura) Spiral of Daeva
<worn on head>       (Red Aura) Maniacal Tendencies
<worn on legs>       hellfire leggings
<worn on feet>       (Red Aura) Malignant Boots of the Hellion
<worn on hands>      the Inquisitor's Grasp
<worn on arms>       (Red Aura) a strand of polished jade
<worn about body>    (Humming) the cloak of Death
<worn about body>    (Red Aura) A shroud of darkness
<worn about waist>   a girth of mangled hide
<worn around wrist>  (Red Aura) (Humming) the wristlet of the hellborne
<worn around wrist>  (Red Aura) (Humming) the wristlet of the hellborne
<wielded>            (Red Aura) Lifebane
<dual wielded>       (Red Aura) Lifebane
<worn on ears>       (Red Aura) Demonic Whispers
<worn on eyes>       the Eye of the Beholder
<worn on back>       a thick piece of lizard hide
<worn over face>     [nothing]
<worn around ankle>  (Humming) Blackened Spurs of the Nazgul Lord
<worn around ankle>  (Humming) Blackened Spurs of the Nazgul Lord

A much cheaper set up with a half-orc vampire and 108 damage roll and stats below:
You report: 1549/1564 hp 51/60 blood 595/595 mv 176474704 xp.
Your base stats:    16 str 16 int 10 wis 18 dex 13 con 9  cha 13 lck.
Your current stats: 20 str 21 int 9  wis 25 dex 15 con 8  cha 15 lck.
Equipment used is:

You are using:
<used as light>      (Red Aura) Shifting black flames
<worn on finger>     (Red Aura) (Humming) Set's ring of Power
<worn on finger>     (Red Aura) (Humming) Set's ring of Power
<worn around neck>   (Red Aura) (Glowing) Cloak of Bloodlust
<worn around neck>   (Red Aura) (Glowing) Cloak of Bloodlust
<worn on body>       (Red Aura) Demonspawn Stormcloud
<worn on head>       a black, brimmed hat
<worn on legs>       (Red Aura) godskull shinguards
<worn on feet>       (Glowing) demonscale Boots
<worn on hands>      (Red Aura) Sin
<worn on arms>       (Red Aura) a shadowy pair of dragonscale arm guards
<worn about body>    (Red Aura) (Humming) a Cloak of Demons
<worn about waist>   circle of mists
<worn around wrist>  a solid bracer of Cold Blue
<worn around wrist>  a solid bracer of Cold Blue
<wielded>            (Red Aura) Black Dragonskull Ax
<dual wielded>       (Red Aura) Black Dragonskull Ax
<worn on ears>       (Glowing) a sliver of glass
<worn on eyes>       (Red Aura) (Glowing) Visage of Bloodlust
<worn on back>       [nothing]
<worn over face>     [nothing]
<worn around ankle>  a demonskin ankle bracer
<worn around ankle>  a demonskin ankle bracer

My third vampire is a Halfling. I have it wearing some Halfling only equipment which works quite well for cheaply equipped vampire. This vampire has 107 damage roll.
You report: 1568/1568 hp 13/60 blood 743/743 mv 176473688 xp.
Your base stats:    14 str 15 int 10 wis 17 dex 13 con 12 cha 14 lck.
Your current stats: 20 str 22 int 11 wis 25 dex 13 con 12 cha 15 lck.
Equipment used is:

You are using:
<used as light>      (Red Aura) Shifting black flames
<worn on finger>     (Red Aura) (Humming) Set's ring of Power
<worn on finger>     (Red Aura) (Humming) Set's ring of Power
<worn around neck>   (Red Aura) (Glowing) Cloak of Bloodlust
<worn around neck>   (Red Aura) (Glowing) Cloak of Bloodlust
<worn on body>       (Red Aura) (Humming) Golden Plate
<worn on head>       a fallohide's leather cap
<worn on legs>       a fallohide's leather breeches
<worn on feet>       (Glowing) demonscale Boots
<worn on hands>      (Red Aura) Sin
<worn on arms>       (Red Aura) a shadowy pair of dragonscale arm guards
<worn about body>    a fallohide's cloak
<worn about waist>   a fallohide's pipeweed pouch
<worn about waist>   a fallohide's waist sash
<worn around wrist>  (Glowing) a crystal dragon bracer
<worn around wrist>  (Glowing) a crystal dragon bracer
<wielded>            (Red Aura) (Glowing) darkness
<dual wielded>       (Red Aura) (Glowing) darkness
<worn on ears>       ears of the fox
<worn on eyes>       (Red Aura) (Glowing) Visage of Bloodlust
<worn on back>       a simple pilgrim's cloak
<worn over face>     [nothing]
<worn around ankle>  a turqoise anklet
<worn around ankle>  a blue, glassy chain

You can see that the difference between the well equipped vampire and the second two vampires is 200 hit points and 23/24 damage roll. As for the difference in the value of equipment... The second two vampires you could buy their total equipment for less than 100 million gold coins each while the first has 11 pieces of equipment worth over 100 million each.

Tree of Life

In my last post I mentioned that one of my favourite levelling areas is the Tree of Life. Almost every player has levelled at least one character in that area but not many know about the Helm of Lightning that can be made in that area. One of the first mobs that you come across in the area is the Lightning Dragon.

Before the lightning gate
A giant gate formed entirely of electricity blocks the cavern's mouth,
filling the cave with an unholy blue light. Bright white fingers of
lightning grope about the cave hungrily, searching for those who have
encroached unduly into this unnatural room. A chill wind rips the air
through the gaps in the bars of light, gusting the burnt smell of ozone
about the crevasse.
Exits: [north] south
A huge dragon-shaped field of energy stands watch over the gate.
The Lightning Dragon is surrounded by cascading torrents of energy.
The Lightning Dragon sneers at you in contempt.
The Lightning Dragon exclaims 'Halt Vilexur!  Thou hast no business in the domain of the gods!'
The Lightning Dragon says 'Thou shalt not pass these gates uncontested...'
The Lightning Dragon looms menacingly, better run for cover!

When killed like most mobs in the game it sometimes pop body parts. These can be cooked to eat or used in some nephandi spells. The difference with this mob is that when it pops a head it looks like any other mob's head but they do not decay like most parts do. Since these heads do not decay it is sometimes possible just before reboot time to see a dozen lightning dragon heads on the floor of this room. To make the Helm of Lightning you will need one head of the lightning dragon and 15 million gold coins.

Once you have both of these make your way to the top of the tree. Once here you will need to kill the rainbow dragon followed by the essence of magic. For both of these you will want sanctuary and shockshield spells on. You will have to kill both of these using only one character as the kill blow transports the character through. After killing the essence of magic you end up in a little part of the tree called Rain's house. At first there are 3 rooms but a secret room can be found below the first one. To get here you will need some sort of pass door spell. From here be careful as to the south there is a death trap but you will want to go north to get to this room:

Northern end of the cellar
Faint light from a hooded lantern fills the room, revealing a simple table
with a tattered leather bound journal upon it and a single often-mended
chair. Although the floor and the cobwebs which are festooned from the
ceiling are covered in dust, the table and chair are not, showing recent
signs of use.
Exits: south
A twisted and disfigured man cowers in the corner
A disfigured man is shrouded in flowing shadow and light.
A disfigured man cowers in the corner at the sight of you.
A disfigured man exclaims 'Don't hurt me please!  Please don't hurt me!'
A disfigured man bursts into tears.
A disfigured man tells you 'You won't hurt me will you?'
A disfigured man cowers in the corner from claustrophobia.

 When you look at the disfigured man you will see this:

His twisted body covered in rags, his tortured eyes stare back blankly from
under a tangle of matted hair. Running his hands over his filthy hair, he
wanders about the room, muttering to himself under his breath.
A disfigured man is in perfect health.
You peek at his inventory:
     Nothing.

All you have to do then is give this man the head of the lightning dragon with 15 million gold coins on you:

 You give the head of the lightning dragon to a disfigured man.
A disfigured man says, 'ooOOooOOooOOoo.'
A disfigured man says 'Ahh, I see, you want one of those....'
A disfigured man winks suggestively at you.
A disfigured man says 'It's going to cost you though, I only did free work for my master...'
You give 15,000,000 coins to a disfigured man.
A disfigured man gives you Helm of Lightning.

 The helm probably isn't worth the 15 million gold as shown below:

Object 'Helm of Lightning' is infused with your magic...
It is a level 45 armor, weight 5.
Locations it can be worn:  head
Special properties:  glow hum metal
Genres allowed:  rogue fighter aberrant shaman
Alignments allowed:  evil good
This armor has a gold value of 250000.
Armor class is 16 of 16.
Affects hp by 50.
Affects damage roll by 5.
Affects strength by -1.

On the plus side it has 50hp's which is good for a vampire or fighter. 5 damage roll is pretty standard for head equipment for an avatar. Being level 45 it isn't bad for the last few levels before level 50. The -1 strength isn't nice however.

 I've used this helm on evil fighter types before the Edo helm came into the game. For an evil vampire it's not too bad but there are other pieces of headwear that are gettable without too much effort. As for a good vampire - I've never had one of these before but may be an option. Either way it's an item not many people know about - it isn't even mentioned on Rodpedia. It does leave me with one question though - "Who is the disfigured man's master?"

Levelling

I haven't posted on here for a few months due to not actually being on Realms of Despair lately. This has been due to the usual business of reality and frustratingly when I have had the time to play the game has had problems with its server. This is quite unusual in the history of the game as over the last 20 years there has rarely been as much downtime as of late. Thankfully the busy immortals of the realms have restored the sever.

In the mean time when I have been on I've been working on levelling a new thief. I already have 2 level 50 thieves - one a neutral aligned half-troll and the other a neutral aligned pixie. Thieves are handy classes that can do damage and dodge hits well. The aim of the new thief though is to have a devout dwarf since I have gained some decent devout thief equipment I can't use.

Overall I have levelled about 30 characters up to level 50. One of the most commonly asked questions by new players (and experienced players) is "Where is a good place to level?" This all depends on how well equipped you are, what you are levelling and what characters do you have to back up with. I level with a devout cleric and a path of balance mage nearby to do heals, spell ups and to immobilize the necessary mobs. Before I had these characters it could still be done with a lot more purple potions from New Darkhaven. My personal favourite areas to level in are:

1 - 5: Academy
5 - 15: Shattered Refuge, Land of the Fire Newts
15 - 25: Darkhaven Art Gallery, Coral Depths
25 - 35: Tower of Enlightenment
35 - 45: Revelation City, Tree of Life, Cursed Lands
45 - 50: Kings Castle

I often level my characters with an evil alignment though not many other people do this. I still find it easy enough to equip them evilly. Others also often use other areas but the above are usually empty so as to make it less competitive.